Installing Card Reader in MPC2000

i've been helping a friend add an internal non-hotswap card to his MPC200 With help from mpcstoragesolution.com. the MPC2000 does not have an internal scsi port so they key is to add a second scsi port outside the sampler. they sent us an ide card readr, a ide scsi board, y power cable, an ide cable, an scsi db25 convertr, and last a custom cable that adds an extra scsi port. and we can still daisychain a scsi zip drive. everything is recognzed on the scsi chain including the 16gb card. we would like to try a 32gb to see if that is recognized but that card is expensive. i think the hardest part to get is the ide scsi board. it is rare.

honestly, the hardest thing about this install was squeezing all the components inside the sampler. very little space inside but still do-able. we wound up putting the ide scsi convertr near the card reader. some aligning of the card reader was required and drilling of holes. the scsi db25 convertr between the effects board and smpte ports. did not know where else to acomodate the components. and the special cable from the convertr to just outside the scsi port which connects to the outside scsi port but still adds the additional scsi port outside. they have not made it available yet because they feel it is too much work for the average producer to attempt to install and introduce problems and they may be right but we were able to do it. i will post pics when I get my hands on a camera hopefully this weekend.

btw, mpcstoragesolution.com has something going on for the holidays. they are selling an external non-hotswap drive for a penny + s/h to the first and last person who e-mails from now til the end of the weekend. something like that. check it out.

just wanted to share our experience so far for those interested in adding a card reader to the MPC2000.

peace

oh nice, I didn't know that would work (the scsi to ide converter) in the 2000.

Hey, I cant wait to see pics of the setup and how you have everything mounted and connected.

Yes, that is sure great news! But let's be fair - I've been selling MPC2000 Classic SCSI drive install kits and Card Reader drives for the Classic since 2009, so it is not exactly a revolutionary achievment. For those that want a simple kit with all the bugs long ago worked out and a card reader drive that allows you to use 16GB CF cards, check my site! They are shipping every day.

i still wanna see those pics... that looks like a slew of work to get all that fitted together and I just wanna see pics haha.

I can't say about how he is doing it but my kit is very simple. PM me and I'll send you some pics.

scsicardreaders.com wrote:I can't say about how he is doing it but my kit is very simple. PM me and I'll send you some pics.

i will pm and ask for the pics ... or better yet why not post the pics for all of us to see. if you do not I understand. i will get my pics posted this weekend and hopefully we can compare notes so it's not a big secret anymore. so then anyone with mpc2000 can try.

peace

Good job! My kit does basically the same thing as what you did, only I build all the cables specifically to fit the MPC2000 Classic, so everything is nice and clean. I have a nice little ribbon cable that fits on the rear and provides a new female DB25, exactly where the current DB25 is located. So someone can DIY using your guide or buy my kit and make it a no-brainer - either option will get you there!

ok, i got my hands on a camera and took pics. we have little knowledge of electronics and consider ourselves humble, but with the help of mpcstoragesolution.com (thanks) we took the plunge and mod the mpc2000. see pics below and for anyone interested in attempting it, hopefully the pics and detailed description we are contributing on this forum for free will be useful to anyone.

after removing the top cover, board with pads and buttons, we took out the stock floppy drive. placed the card reader in place. aligned the drive also temporarily placing the front cover so that the card reader face was approx flush. with a marker we marked two dots on bottom of mpc where the 2 screws holding the floppy are. we removed the card reader and drilled 2 small holes (slightly smaller than the screws). put card reader back in place and screwed it in. note the ide scsi board located on top of the card reader to the right. used velcro to stick to side of metal wall. we believe there could be other locations to place the board. we used velcro which holds nicely and the board can be removed at any time. card reader connected to ide scsi board by ide ribbon cable. then there is the scsi ribbon cable that shoots across the pic that connects the ide scsi board to another converter. notice 1gb card inserted. at the end we used a 16gb to test. see pic.



before moving on to the idc50 db25 converter, take a look at the y power adapter. 5v needed to be supplied to card reader and ide scsi board. the floppy connector cable was cut leaving only the red and brown wire. we took a male molex connector with an available red and black wire. the red wire was tied to the brown wire. and the black wire was tied to the red wire of floppy cable. now the card reader and ide scsi board could be connected to the mpc board via the y power adapter as shown to get power.



shown below is the idc50 to db25 pin convertr board. the scsi cable that comes from the ide scsi board connects to the convertr board. then there is the other cable that connects to the convertr board which is special in that is customized. you can make yourself using an exacto knife and crimping tool. the 25 pin ribbon cable has 2 male scsi ports and one female scsi port (new port that will be shown in the NEXT picture).



below pic shows rear of the mpc2000 with custom cable and new scsi port.



in the next pic we connected a 250MB scsi zip drive to the new scsi port and inserted a 16GB card into the new card reader. everything was recognized. also screen shots of the card reader and zip drive recognized. Our MPC2000 uses 1.72 os. see pics.







finally, pics of the finished look (front and back)






there you have it. looks pretty clean to us and felt like a no-brainer. the experience was nice.

for tools we used a drill, screwdriver, scissors, electrical tape, pliers. the easy to get parts are available on ebay where you can get real cheap to bring your cost down.

card reader
ide scsi board (mpcstoragesolution.com sells them)
y power adapter
single power adapter to connect y adapter to floppy wires.
idc50 ribbon cable
idc50 db25 convertr
custom cable with new scsi port (make yourself. i looked at what was sent and it looks very easy to make)

scsicadreaders, better yet and if possible, post your pics to the forum so we can all compare notes and share improved ways to add a scsi card reader to the MPC2000.

just one heads up, there are kits out there that sell cheap but that is for the MPC2000XL only which has internal ports already. BUT for the MPC2000, an ide scsi board and an idc50 db25 convertr is very much needed to make it work. once, you get it working, other MPC2000 users will say damn!

now that we have installed the card reader on our MPC2000, one thought, installing an internal hard drive should also be very easy.

credit? . . . give credit to whoever you feel or wherever you feel it is due . . . whatever. we do not want credit but only to share our experience with our peers (you guys). we just wanted to provide more detail and pics on what is involved and to let everyone know that it can be done. you have a choice.

i have a buddy who has an MPC3000 will ask him if he is interested in adding a card reader. another interesting mod to post on this forum.

peace.

Here is what the inside of your MPC2000 will look like when you install our kit:



Nice and clean, with custom cabling that was made for the MPC2000. You can see the CF-CARD drive installed at the bottom left. It is a one-piece unit - no messing around with separate mounting as in LADeiego's kludge - ours fits into the existing floppy spot and screws in the bottom. It uses the existing floppy power plug, so no changes required there.

And here is the rear of the unit:



The ribbon cable blends in nicely with the overall sampler color scheme and it attaches permanently and becomes part of your MPC. And the female DB25 is right where the original was, so you can keep using any external drives you have.

So our install kit requires that you plug in just two cables and no cutting or soldering. The only caveat is that you cannot have the SMPTE board installed but honestly, who uses their MPC2000 Classic for scoring films?

scsicardreaders,

looks nice.

notice you're using the smpte slot to run the cable. where's are the smpte jacks? looks like the smpte option has been sacrificed for running the extra scsi cable. do you tell your customers 'beforehand' that the smpte in/out board will have to go to make the card reader possible?

i still see mpc2000's smpte to output time code to external equipment being used a lot.

it would be nice to see all possible options on mpc2000 + card reader.

just my opinion.

peace

i have a serious question to ask.

when a post is made, can it be deleted or edited by the user or moderator? the reason i ask is because i saw something very very fishy happen yesterday when i checked the thread. i saw 2 reply post appear on the thread and they were not there later in the day. and from the same person. the posts seemed somewhat negative in nature but did not have profanity or anything like that.

has anyone experienced that lately?

just curious.

peace

LADiego wrote:i have a serious question to ask.

when a post is made, can it be deleted or edited by the user or moderator? the reason i ask is because i saw something very very fishy happen yesterday when i checked the thread. i saw 2 reply post appear on the thread and they were not there later in the day. and from the same person. the posts seemed somewhat negative in nature but did not have profanity or anything like that.

has anyone experienced that lately?

just curious.

peace

The person who posted the negative comment probably sobered up, had a change of heart and deleted the post.

Fung45 wrote:

scsicardreaders.com wrote: who uses their MPC2000 Classic for scoring films?

I do but not as a main sequencer and never needed to use SMPTE

Cool - I have done a little bit of that myself and found scoring to be an interesting way to make music. Since I do mostly instrumental fusion-type music myself, it was an okay fit. But I have a lot to learn about that sort of thing. Have you trained to do it or did you just pick it up by doing it?

I did a score for one of those Skinemax-type soft-core films a few years ago. Unfortunately, it never got released but I had fun doing it.